11 11
by IShipYouNot
Summary: "When life takes everything from you, beats you down, and rams your face further into the mud, how do you get up and keep walking?" "When you have hope, it's not impossible. Even when that hope is so small that you can barely see it." Weiss POV. Of the ones I've written so far, this one is my favorite. Please let me know what you think. :3 Other chapters on my AO3 me name


The cool, autumn air slipped through the cracked window like a burglar in the night, gently rustling the partially closed cutains and disturbing only the corners of the loose paperwork on the solid oak desk. The slight noise wasn't what woke the Schnee heiress, but the temperature change. Bristling as the wave of crisp air washed over her fair skin and under the loose flaps of her bolero, she willed herself to face the right side of the desk. 10:57 PM. _Wasn't it only 6 when I walked in here?_ Her sharp blue eyes closed, small arms wrapping around her torso trying to shield herself as a larger gust of wind forced it's way into the small study, taking a couple pieces of paper off the desk.

Shivering slightly, she observed the paperwork that hadn't been swept away with blatant contempt. Most were contracts for equipment to dig up dust crystals in the quarries. Mixed in were various legal cases, bills, stock and profit charts, and letters to family acquaintances responsible for making the more outspoken challengers to the Schnee family submit or, in some cases, disappear. What it amounted to at this particular moment was a stack of perfectly usable firewood invading her bubble. _Okay, so maybe it wouldn't last nearly as long as a real piece of wood, but it would certainly warm the room up enough to be comfortable for a few more hours,_ she growled internally.

A small sigh escaped her. She dreaded it. Idly, she observed the steamy swirls her warm breath made in the frigid air as she pondered the thought. She dreaded waking; there were so many things that demanded her attention and energy that she often ended up leaving with more work than she walked in to that morning. There were people to entertain, papers and emails to read and respond to, and places to go to settle a meeting that could have been done with a video conference from her bedroom. There was food that she was supposed to eat; a severe lack of an appetite made that difficult, even without her meals being as bland as chalk dust and substantial as a bag of air. She dreaded having to run from the paparazzi, and putting up a front when she was cornered. They were persistent and ruthless, a combination which made it difficult to view them as more than a pack of mindless, starving wolves. Though she woke with no vitality, she made herself go through the day. _If you walk in with nothing, how can you leave with less than that?_

But what she dreaded more than waking was sleeping. On most occasions, she didn't dream. However, in the rare case that she did... it was painful. It left her terrified and empty, reducing her to the frightened girl she was when she first entered Beacon's grounds. Most people called her aggressive, irate, or down-right pissed off, but the truth was, that was how she protected herself. A Schnee was never to show fear, so hers manifested in the form of anger. On those nights she did have a dream, she woke in a cold sweat, shaking and breathing heavily. A maid had heard her one night, calling out in her sleep, and walked in to find her thrashing around in her covers with tears streaming down her face. Since then, a tracker for her vital signs had been installed in her bedroom and a doctor was moved into the Schnee residence to assess her at any point an irregularity should happen. She had also been attending meetings with a therapist, but those only helped when it wasn't the same repeating night terror. No matter what she did, she never woke rested. It was like her life was a broken record, playing the same sad songs over and over, sometimes mixing up the order. Or even a snow globe; turn everything on it's head and see where the snow settles when you turn it back, knowing nothing will fall back into the same place as before.

A particularly belligerent gust of wind tore the swinging window fully open and the young Schnee from her musings. With a haze of red clouding her vision, the heiress leapt from her chair, knocking it over along with a large pile of papers and folders and slammed the window shut. Only after inhaling a calming breath did she notice the large cracks stemming from the handle. She turned away from it, knowing her father would find out regardless of whether she fixed it or he did, only to face the disaster she created. Defeated, she dropped gracelessly to the floor and started picking at the toppled heap. Maybe reorganizing them would make it look like she had gotten further than she actually had. A passing thought with no more substance or flavor than her aforementioned meals. _Great, my personality is becoming as dull as my life_. Then, something caught her eye. The cloth covered corner of a binder came into view and, as she unearthed it, she recognized it as something precious.

It was a photo album Team RWBY had made. The front was a collage. Everyone had put their emblem on their own album and had made something that made them think of the other three members. They were then fixed to the front of the album. Ruby's items were an origami flower _(Thank you for not doing a rose Blake. Making this would have been a million times harder)_ , a picture of a cookie _(I still can't believe Yang tried to put a real cookie on these)_ , and bubble wrap. She giggled when she remembered their reactions to 'You're a complete air head, but... you understand people. More specifically, you understand when they need their asses kicked, or to be handled with the greatest care. That... and you're a lot of fun to poke." Everyone giggled and Yang had nudged her in the arm good-naturedly while Ruby whined. She never liked getting her cheeks pinched.

Yang's had been just as amusing. Blake found a picture of a dragon online and altered it to where it was circling the sun, which was a fairly amazing feat. It even put her admittedly impressive scribbles of Adam to shame. Ruby's contribution was a flaming bumblebee with an explosive hazard sign printed on it. _I swear Blake and Yang practiced that raised eyebrow look together; how else did they do it in perfect sync?_ While Ruby's was plenty odd, nobody understood Weiss' until she explained it.

 _'"Uh... so what's with the nuts?"'_

 _'"I think she's saying you need some new parts Yang."'_

 _'"Ewwww! Blake! I hope you were talking about parts for Bumblebee!"'_

 _'"Mind out of the gutter, Belladonna. And Ruby, quit. Yes Blake was being gross, now get over it."'_

 _'"Still don't know what they're for, Ice Queen."'_

 _'"Well, it's obvious you have a few loose screws upstairs and I couldn't find your marbles so I was hoping this would fix the problem."'_

The laughter that erupted ended up drawing the attention of Team JNPR from across the hall. The heiress allowed a small smile to grace her lips as she fondly remembered the nights progression. Yang never left her alone about making jokes after that.

Blake unwillingly took the limelight following Yang; watching the teasing that had ensued with the sisters made her rethink creating this memorabilia. Being her partner, Yang was the first to present her gift. Surprisingly, it was a hair clip. The blonde explained how she wanted to use real Belladonna flowers to make it, but wasn't fond of the idea of poisoning her partner so she talked to Velvet and Coco. They actually took the time to teach her how to hand make the flowers and attach them so it wouldn't break easily without being heavy and clunky. It was a truly beautiful piece. _It still surprises me that she could really be so gentle with something so small, even though she proved it over and over._ Ruby's gesture was just as sweet.

 _'"What's this Ruby?"'_

 _'"A bracelet. It has all our colors on it." She stole a quick glance at Yang, who returned it with a nudge and a wink. "We've never heard you talk about your immediate family so Yang and I came up with a way to say you'll always be part of ours."'_

 _Blake looked away from the delicately twined thread with a jerk in stunned disbelief. The uncomfortable silence grew, until there were noticeable tears pricking at the edges of her eyes and she finally collapsed into Yang's shoulder, bawling her eyes out. That big baby._

Weiss was the last, again, to give her gift. After Blake was done crying of course.

 _'"Oh Dust, now I wish I had beat you two to the punch."'_

 _'"Ruby's faster and I hit harder. You being first wouldn't have made a difference."'_

 _'"That may be, but you don't follow up an emotional atmosphere with a badly timed joke. Unless your name is Yang Xiao Long and in that case the joke is just bad anyway."'_

 _'"Hey!"'_

 _'"Well, it can't be THAT bad, can it? What'cha got Snowflake?"'_

 _Hesitantly, she pulled a pair of identical bookmarks from an envelope._

 _'"That's not that ba-"' Blake froze, finally realizing why it MIGHT be bad._

 _'"Flip it over. AND THEN you can say that to my face."' Blake and Weiss wore matching blushes as the Faunus turned one over in her shaking hands. In the next instant, a geyser of blood erupted from her nose. Curious, Yang and Ruby finally leaned over enough to see both sides, one a deep grey with several ninjas with a heart sewn into their shirt sleeves, and the other side a light tan with all ninjas from the other side naked (save for the naughty bits) and paired with their respective love interests. The sisters couldn't suppress their giggles._

 _'"Lighten up, Blake. We read all the books you have when you weren't in the room. You don't have much to be embarrassed about."'_

 _'"Maybe just your reaction right at this moment," Ruby managed to snort out._  
The heiress allowed herself a giggle. It had taken Blake a while to get over the shock and embarrassment to finally notice Weiss had gone through the trouble to get them autographed by the writer of the Ninja's of Love series that Blake was so completely obsessed with. The passing mortification also opened up a discussion of making a book club, which they upheld with CFVY, JNPR, and other teams across the continents, some of those members being Team SSSN. Goodwitch was thoroughly floored to find over 20 students streaming a discussion about books in general in the library, and ended up evolving to include many of their assignments, most of which weren't even from Vale. By the end of their second semester, they had earned recognition from Ozpin at an assembly for upholding communications with allies and strengthening the bonds between the nations. The headmasters from the other schools also streamed a live video feed about the numbers of excelling students tripling, and those numbers had only been growing. They had to keep it from going to their heads though. It was one thing to make a difference, and another to make a lasting one.

Weiss, the last to give, was also the last to receive, but hers were certainly not the least. Yang's gift, surprisingly, was another craft. At first, they just looked like silk snowflakes glued to a screen which she was certain was a prodding at her given, campus-wide moniker, Ice Queen. How wrong she was. The sun dragon had certainly put a lot of thought into it as, when pushed, they lit up as though sunlight was filtering through them in slow motion.

 _'"For as cold and prickly as you can be, you have these moments where you just... are bright... and soft. Kinda like the morning sunlight when it's just started peaking over the trees. It comes and goes as it chooses... like you do. It usually doesn't stay long either, which is kinda sad, but necessary. I don't want to walk around in twilight all my life. You end up forgetting how beautiful it was the first time you saw it."'_

 _'"You've been reading too many of Blake's books, Yang. It almost sounds like you're asking out your crush. Scared you're gonna get rejected?"' She sat there, unfazed by her little sister's teasing._

 _'"It's not like that, Ruby. I know what I mean. I'm just not sure how to put it into words."'_

Replaying those soft words in her mind brought her comfort. Yang had seldom tip-toed around saying something to her, preferring to get straight to the point in the bluntest way possible, but the quiet hesitation and the slow way it came out, like she didn't quite have the words together, was something that stirred a nervous warmth in her chest. That wasn't something she was going to tell her team though.

The Faunus sat quietly, patiently waiting for her turn. Her piece turned out to be Weiss' emblem but with their weapons overlaying. Crescent Rose, in scythe form, creating just over a sixth of the circle, bullets creating another arc, and two of the six arms; Gambol Shroud in separate pieces to make two more arms, the ribbon and bullets making up a third of the circle; Myrtenaster and Ember Celica on opposite poles, bullets and dust vials closing it. The six detatched points were the only thing not obscured by another object.

 _'"It represents our unity as a team. Crescent Rose is the vertical and the top two arcs are for leadership, direction, shelter or strength, and a moral compass. Gambol Shroud is split to represent past and present. The resulting arcs are defenses; protect what is here from the demons chasing you as it is valuable, and the enemy likes cheap shots so your eyes must be everywhere. Ember Celica takes one arm and one arc, and I would hardly call it a limited weapon. A strong tank at your back is better than a wall or a cliff as it can fight for you until you win, or give you another set of eyes and advise when it would be best to retreat. Myrtenaster takes the right as a sword and shield, providing strategy and protection while still being able to provide support for the lead and rear as needed. A circle is considered a closed and continuous line, symbolizing our necessity to each other. Our weapons meet in the middle as compromise for a common goal. However, I chose to use your emblem as a base because of your influence. Your name is far-reaching and holds great power in everything from political to financial to industrial influence, which is why the outer points remain untouched. That's an area that's specific to you as a Schnee, and it always will be."'_

 _'"That's actually a really in-depth analysis, Blake. And you made it all work to Weiss' emblem? I'm seriously impressed."'_

 _'"Ruby. You're glittering,"' Yang said with a smirk._

 _'"I'll take that as a sign that I said way too much."'_

 _'"No, you didn't," left her lips as a whisper.'_  
Weiss remembered breaking down into tears. The person she would have despised just because of her race and, later because of her past as one of the many enemies of her family, had taken the time not only to use her emblem and make it something meaningful to them both, but even show it in a light that promoted strength, unity, trust, and friendship, none of which she would have associated it with before. It made guilt burn in her gut and tears of joy stream from her eyes as she looked back at how much they both had grown as individuals, and again as a team. Calloused fingertips stroked the sealed artwork in fond memory.

While Blake's meant a great deal to the heiress, her favorite had been Ruby's. It was made right at the last minute, but it couldn't have been more perfect.

 _'"Okay Rubes, you're up," Yang said as she nudged her sister with her elbow.'_

 _'"..."'_

 _'"Remnant to Ruby! You in there Strawberry Shortcake?"'_

 _'"I think you scared her putting her on the spot, Yang."'_

 _'"Seriously? I thought you had it ready."'_

 _'"Nope! That's why it's called a 'surprise!', Yang." The young leader jumped to her feet and ran across the room, speaking as she trotted to the desk, "Everyone together in front of the dresser! 3 2 1 SMILE!" Using her semblance, their leader jumped into the center of the group. Thinking quickly, Yang dragged Weiss and Blake closer to her with a monstrous bear hug as her sister dropped into her lap._

At the time they were so annoying, but seeing the photo now, the falling rose petals were what made it a perfect and irreplaceable memory. Blake's obvious discomfort at being so close to someone else was cute, while Weiss' flaring temper was laughable. She never realized how happy it made the sisters. To be within arms reach and know there's comfort, trust, and warmth that extends beyond just the two of them; something the heiress wished she had given back more often. She had also said the sunlight would make a glare and ruin it in the end. Looking back, that was so far from the truth; she wished they had taken more that evening. It lit a tender warmth in her, to look back and know she was loved.

She stole a glance at the clock as her fingers brushed over the raised script at the bottom of the picture. 11:10. _There's always time to try something new, right? Miracles do happen every day, even if it is just waking up..._ Heaving a sigh, she worked up her courage, talked down the voices in her head and willed herself to believe, knowing that it may not amount to anything more than disappointment. Hope is what drove their every step towards making a change during their time at Beacon, wasn't it? The only difference now is she's alone. Tired monotony is what she woke to every day, but maybe she needed to start waking with the hope - _the expectation_ \- to see a change, for something different to happen, to see to it that something different _did_ happen. But did she really have the strength to hold on to that determination day after day, week after week, one month into the next, until they became years and possibly be back to the crippled mess that she was now? The thought terrified her, but what did she have left?

Taking in one last shaking breath, she stole a final glance at the clock as it changed before closing her eyes. A whispered, "I wish you three were still with me," escaped her as a tear rolled down her cheek and dripped over the embossed gold. _'(We Were:) Friends First & Family Forever'_


End file.
